“It was an absolutely embarrassing mistake,” he said. “All of us are ashamed of it and are working to put protocols in place where something like this can never happen again. I’ve already reached out to the owners, and I’m going to make it right with them as well. There really isn’t much more to say . . . I want to hide from now until the end of time, or when everyone forgets.”

“It was an absolutely embarrassing mistake,” he said. “All of us are ashamed of it and are working to put protocols in place where something like this can never happen again. I’ve already reached out to the owners, and I’m going to make it right with them as well. There really isn’t much more to say . . . I want to hide from now until the end of time, or when everyone forgets.”

stark wrote:CYPRESS, Calif. – Jimmy Barnes, the longtime assistant to Hall of Fame trainer Bob Baffert, was being treated for a fractured pelvis on Sunday after being unseated from the stable pony earlier in the day.

“He stumbled,” Baffert said. “The pony lost his footing. He just went down. It was a freaky thing.”

It was not immediately known how long Barnes would be hospitalized.

Barnes has been an integral part of Baffert’s team for nearly two decades, often traveling around the nation – and to Dubai – with the stable’s leading horses. In 2015, he accompanied American Pharoah to Oaklawn Park for a win in the Arkansas Derby and was alongside the colt through a sweep of the Triple Crown.

Jose Ortiz, the leading jockey in North America in purse money this year, was taken to a Long Island hospital to have his left knee examined after being involved in a spill in Wednesday’s ninth race at Belmont Park.

Ortiz was complaining of pain in his knee when he tried to flex it, according to a nurse at Belmont Park’s First-Aid department. Ortiz had his knee and ankle wrapped up as he was being wheeled on a gurney out of First Aid and to an ambulance. The ankle was swollen, but he was not complaining of pain, the nurse said.

Ortiz was aboard Submit, a 3-year-old filly trained by Christophe Clement making her fourth career start, this one in a maiden $40,000 claiming turf race.

In the stretch, Submit was making a belated run toward the leaders when she took a misstep, suffering a cannon bone fracture to her left foreleg. She was euthanized on track.

I'm sorry to read this, as I thought she is a very talented rider. But I don't blame her for stepping back from riding races.
The reality is that riding racehorses, like so many other contact sports, comes with the risk of repeated concussions. With what we know now about CTE...and learning more all the time...even very young athletes can suffer the horrible, long-term consequences of head injuries.

Keeneland Initiates Concussion Protocol for JockeysWill require jockeys competing to complete a baseline concussion assessment.
Keeneland will require jockeys competing in the 2017 fall meet, which begins Oct. 6, to complete a baseline concussion assessment prior to being allowed to ride. Keeneland is among the first racetracks in the United States to establish concussion management and return to participation protocol.
Read more: https://www.bloodhorse.com/horse-racing ... or-jockeys

It's about time, and I hope other tracks will follow Keeneland's lead in this matter.
You know your sport is falling behind the times when even the PBR started concussion protocols with baseline exams well before horse racing.

Jorge Navarro, the trainer who has been dogged by controversy for the past several years, has agreed not to enter any horses at Delaware Park for the remainder of the track’s meet this year, the state racing commission’s top official said Wednesday.

CLAREMORE (AP) — Officials say a jockey who was injured during a race at a northeastern Oklahoma track has died.

The Cherokee Nation says jockey Mario Chavez was injured Saturday at Will Rogers Downs after his horse crashed into the inside rail, throwing him to the ground. Gunnar Enlow, whose family owns the farm where the 42-year-old Chavez worked, says Chavez was pronounced dead at the hospital on Sunday.

After the QE II at Keeneland, I heard one of the TVG hosts say that Irad Ortiz had immediately left the track to fly home. Apparently he and his wife have been expecting their second child and, if I heard correctly, the baby was due in January. It arrived today, which would be very premature.
Prayers for the the Ortiz family and their little baby.

BaroqueAgain1 wrote:After the QE II at Keeneland, I heard one of the TVG hosts say that Irad Ortiz had immediately left the track to fly home. Apparently he and his wife have been expecting their second child and, if I heard correctly, the baby was due in January. It arrived today, which would be very premature.
Prayers for the the Ortiz family and their little baby.

Anything more on this? Irad didn't miss a day of racing once he got back to NY. In fact, he's won eight races over the past two days at Belmont -- five on Thursday, three more Friday.

I haven't heard or read anything...which makes me wonder if I heard the details about Irad correctly.
I know he was slated to ride in the race after the QEii, and that he was replaced because he left the track to return home. Pretty sure that there was something about a pregnancy and/or baby.
Oh well...maybe someone here 'follows' Irad on Twitter?

Three years after scoring a milestone victory aboard Jaz N Tap, jockey Sophie Doyle is back on track with the 6-year-old-gelding.

The two first became acquainted when Doyle was establishing her riding career in Kentucky after being a successful jockey in her native England. On Nov. 26, 2014, at Churchill Downs, she rode Jaz N Tap to win her first race in North America. The victory served as a steppingstone for Doyle, who has won more than 140 races here.

In May, trainer Larry Demeritte told Doyle that Jaz N Tap had been retired after earning $108,844 in 39 starts for owner and breeders Mervin and Barbara McNamara. Doyle had ridden the son of Jazil to three of his four wins.

“I asked Larry if I could have him,” Doyle said. “I told him I had been waiting for him to retire.”

Doyle has started reschooling Jaz N Tap for a new career as a lead pony in which he will accompany other Thoroughbreds to and from the track for their morning workouts. The gelding, who had his initial retraining at Demeritte’s nearby farm, here at Keeneland has received more advanced schooling in proper lead pony etiquette, which includes standing still as other horses cruise around the track.

“He is still racehorsey,” Doyle said. “He does not know he is retired.”

Hall of Fame trainer Jack Van Berg recently underwent surgery for cancer of his inner jaw but continues to train a stable that will move to Oaklawn Park in Arkansas shortly after the Churchill Downs fall meet ends Nov. 26.

Van Berg, 81, was diagnosed earlier this year with squamous cell carcinoma and underwent a second surgery Oct. 31 in Little Rock, Ark., in an attempt to eradicate the disease, said Van Berg’s son and assistant, Tom.

“Unfortunately, the latest operation failed to remove all of the affected cells,” said the younger Van Berg. “He has a scar from his ear to his Adam’s apple. He has another appointment Tuesday in Little Rock to see how best to proceed. The doctors are saying that at his age, chemotherapy and radiation are not options.”